L’express vs. government

Why do I have this uneasy feeling that we ordinary people are caught in the middle of a serious egocentric war between our power elites? That our democracy, though good in comparison with other nations on the continent, direly needs to be rebooted? That the system seems clogged with viruses?

Latest episode in the saga: the Sentinelle vs. Government tug of war with the decision by Pravind Jugnauth (DPM, Minister of Finance and MSM leader) to bar access from his press conference in the government house to all journalists from L’express and 5 Plus Dimanche (of the Sentinelle group) and from Radio One (of Viva Voce company which is partly owned and managed by La Sentinelle).

There has been an avalanche of articles in L´express which have traced back the punitive actions against the media group to 2006, with the advertisement boycotts from government and parastatal agencies, then with the tense relationship with the MSM which is now in alliance with the Labour party, then with the coverage of elections this year. It is a very complex affair which intertwines personal conflicts (Jean Claude de L’Estrac and Raj Meetarbhan vs. Navin Ramgoolam and Pravind Jugnauth) together with institutional (Sentinelle vs Government and its agencies, private sector vs government) and national inter-ethnic dimensions (Franco/Creoles vs. Hindus). This is where it becomes dangerous as we ordinary people are called upon to take sides without being given the full picture.

What is it that went sour in the relationship between the boss of L’express and the PM? In fact, how come they had such an intimate relationship at all? Why is the MSM so angry against JCDL and what does JCDL have to hide about the Jugnauths? There are so many questions to be asked and it looks like we will not be getting answers soon.

Personally, I am not taking anyone’s side. Rather I am taking the side of democracy. And I feel that both parties have done wrong to our democracy. On the one hand, L’express did not provide neutral and independent coverage of elections (just like Le Matinal and Le Dimanche). On the other, the Labour Party/MSM alliance has used its authority to try to stifle the private press (just like the MMM did in the past).

But, government has gone too far this time. Banning journalists from a press conference is a direct attack to press freedom. I hope this does not go any further and that they will recollect their senses and stop this escalation…

And you did not read me correctly. I meant ‘just like Le Matinal and Le Dimanche who also did not provide neutral and independent coverage.’ Everyone knows these two private newspapers are pro-Labour!

And BTW, I am not a civil servant. Have I seemed to be pro-government to you? That’s odd. Proponents of a particular party always seem to have a one-sided reading of other people’s opinion. I guess partisans of MSM and Labour Party think I am pro-MMM and partisans of MMM think I am pro-Labour/MSM.

But, please let’s not fall in the trap of one against the other. L’express is not all lies. Rather, it is not all truth.
Same goes for le Matinal, le Mauricien, Week End, etc.
And all politicians for that matter… And many opinion leaders.

What matters to me most here is that these imbroglios make things appear too obscure or too simplistic for ordinary people. And that press freedom is a sacred thing which is being violated under the pretence of righting the alleged wrongs felt by govt.

Does freedom also include the cowardice of hiding behind such honorable “liberty of the press” to push forward a hidden partisan agenda?
NO

As Obama said in the WHite House Correspondents’ dinner 2009:
“You help all of us who serve at the pleasure of the American people do our jobs better by holding us accountable, by demanding honesty, by preventing us from taking shortcuts and falling into easy political games that people are so desperately weary of.”

If you are one that feeds on lies and gossips, then let the many and few hide in the shadow of the noble Freedom to push for a hidden agenda or “approximate” the truth.

Au peuple palabre, presse palabre?

If wrong information is being transmitted anywhere, whether lexpress, Le Mauricien, Defi, Le Matinal, Mauritius Times,, private radios and others, we shall act ad clarify, but hey, is this a game of tag where we chase after lies?

Ahhh kan mem! They should continue puff,puff,pass and pass out….rather than trying to make many’s Principles of Faith and Strength play the Sega with their betraying Ink of supposedly unbiased articles.

@ G
So are you in favour of punitive actions by the government? Don’t you think governments should be above that kind of actions, however wrong they might think the press is? Would you be in favour of a situation where only pro-govt media outlets such as the MBC, Le Matinal and Le Dimanche are allowed in govt press conferences?

Similarly, I think l’express should not have behaved as childishly as it did by boycotting the MSM and some of their opinion pieces were biased to my mind (against the Labour/MSM alliance, not for MMM). The lead article on elections day was one shameful piece of journalism.

I think both should the press and politicians should be more honest and be subjected to much more transparency.

And again, I think denying access to a govt press conference is a major blunder which is simply not acceptable in a democracy however dissatisfied you might be with that media outlet.

There is a fine line between press censorship and dictatorship. If we still are in a democratic country, newspapers should be allowed to take sides without having to face government repression.

BTW it’s pretty obvious that the editorial line of l’express has always been pro-liberal. With the eviction of Sithanen, only the MMM represented the liberal values to which La Sentinelle adheres to, but this did not forbid them to criticize Paul Berenger when he insulted the adversaries (e.g. so figir movais figir fess … or even the episode of Said Bachoo). I still think they are independent wrt STUPID PARTISAN ISSUES (moi mo mauve, toi to rouge): they have a clear editorial line which is pro-liberal, not pro-MMM. This is the huge difference btw L’express and Week-End. Week-End indulge in demagogy against Sithanen e.g. but l’express defended him, pas a coz zot content so figir, but because they adhere to the same values.

@Bruno
There is truth in what you say. L’express, specially its chief eds were staunch supporters of liberalism and Sithanen. And that was pretty clear in the editorials of L’express-dimanche (less so in the daily).
I think the main issue was the big boss being a regular behind the scene adviser to the PM then later falling out of love with him to the point that the PM became quite brutal with them. It’s all mumble-jumble for us poor mortals 😉

Forgive me if I have misunderstood an aspect of Mauritian democracy, but why should L’Express or any other newspaper be independent? Newspapers write what their readers want to read. In the West, the papers position themselves on a political ideology, in Mauritius, we currently have majority vs. minorities. I appreciate the sweeping generalisation that I have made, but on the whole I believe it to be accurate. I do not understand why the government and supporters of it are preoccupied by the perceived anti-government stance of L’Express. Equally, I do not understand why L’Express are pushing this victimisation story. L’Express’ editors and journalists need only to look to the UK to see how anti-Government paper were denied the “good” stories by Labour’s spin machine.

This is a case of the PTr/MSM/PMSD alliance keeping the core vote happy and a battle that L’Express wants to fight to keep its “high-brow” readers happy. Much ado about nothing?

In a sense you are right that there has been some dramatisation. Two things though:

– You are right when you say that l’express does not have any obligation to be independent. It would have been perfectly OK for the paper to take sides (for or against) and say so clearly to its readers though this is not really in the local tradition in comparison with the UK. But, all papers in Mauritius purport to be independent, yet in their coverage, there is always a certain bias, in some cases a strong one. L’express is the most read newspaper and the one which makes the somewhat loudest claim to independence. But its bias has swayed from pro-Labour to anti-Labour in the span of a few months without much explanation to readers. I think we would have preferred that they take sides clearly given the coverage they provided. We would probably have preferred that they be as audacious as they themselves hinted they could be (read: http://www.lexpress.mu/news/332-blog-le-choix-d-eclairer.html). Why not go the full length? The answer is simple: Mauritius is a small country with a quite passive population that will rarely take to the streets and they were not too sure themselves so they preferred to minimise the risks. Finally, what they feared deep down happened.

– UK anti-govt papers might have been denied the “good” stories (any examples?) but did they ban some journalists from a press conference by a public minister in the govt house? I think it’s OK if govt ministers decide not to give additional info, interviews or exclusives to some journalists (though it’s childish and certainly does not serve their purpose from PR perspective) but it is not OK to ban some journalists from a press conference by a minister. Have you heard of any similar examples in the UK? And anyway, even more so-called advanced democracies have their weaknesses. The UK is not the best example for press freedom. We should copy the good things not the bad ones, don’t you think?

I somehow agree that we are caught in a sour war between Jean Claude de L’Estrac and Navin Ramgoolam and in the end it is democrasy which suffers…but saying that le Matinal was not biased is PURE NON SENSE

Do you dispute the fact that Le Matinal and Le Dimanche are pro-Labour? They have the right to be, you know. As for them providing balanced coverage of elections, this is your opinion. I personally thought they were not.

Also, no-one said these two newspapers publish false surveys and false odds from bookies… This accusation was levelled against L’express by the PM, isn’t it? And it seems it was somewhat founded as the paper’s boss said this was one mistake they had committed and which they admitted.